macOS 12 Monterey on Unsupported Macs Thread

[Project Alice]

12.3 update hung overnight on my Mac Pro. Rebooted and now it hangs on boot. Monterey hangs a lot, but this is the first time it's botched an install.
Going to be reinstalling. Sure wish Apple would drop these yearly releases and focus on stability again...

 

[5tracks]

there was an issue with card readers not working on some older mac's.
I had a MBP 8,1 where the card reader stopped working and pulled logs and opened up a GitHub issue originally

Card reader stopped working · Issue #978 · dortania/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher

Machine Model MacBookPro8,1 Application Version Latest Build (nightly) Application Variant CLI (Command Line Interface) Have you verified whether this issue has been opened before? If no, your issu...

github.com

Thanks.
Strangely, ever since that reboot the card reader has been working across reboots and sleep/wake cycles. I have no idea how or why, but I'll take it! 😅

I downloaded that file linked in your post though in-case I need it later!

 

[m3rih]

I have installed latest Monterey 12.3 on my MacBook Pro 9,2 (mid 2012) non retina device. SIP is disabled. Can I enable it on this device? If so, how?

 

[Ausdauersportler]

I have installed latest Monterey 12.3 on my MacBook Pro 9,2 (mid 2012) non retina device. SIP is disabled. Can I enable it on this device? If so, how?

No! After root volume patching enabling SIP is impossible...
Take a look into the online docs for more in depth information.

 

[nekton1]

12.3 update hung overnight on my Mac Pro. Rebooted and now it hangs on boot. Monterey hangs a lot, but this is the first time it's botched an install.
Going to be reinstalling. Sure wish Apple would drop these yearly releases and focus on stability again...

I too am having problems with 12.3 install (using 0.43 patcher on cMP 3,1 listed below). I have built the USB installer twice from different sources and it can boot the Mac to start the install which apparently completes OK. (The SSD shows as bootable in Startup Disk and DU First Aid shows all OK.) But when I try to boot (with the USB plugged in) I get the flashing folder icon with question mark. Very weird. I think I'll roll back to the last known good version that booted without problems (12.2.1).

 

[nekton1]

I too am having problems with 12.3 install (using 0.43 patcher on cMP 3,1 listed below). I have built the USB installer twice from different sources and it can boot the Mac to start the install which apparently completes OK. (The SSD shows as bootable in Startup Disk and DU First Aid shows all OK.) But when I try to boot (with the USB plugged in) I get the flashing folder icon with question mark. Very weird. I think I'll roll back to the last known good version that booted without problems (12.2.1).

Addendum
After trying over three of four times with the same USB installer, it suddenly came good. I did nothing different but ... .

 

[TimmuJapan]

1. After putting the k1100m and starting getting all these problems I tried to install High Sierra from scratch. created a usb installer and it would freeze and never let me start the installation. Tried several usb keys and couldnt make it work the installer wouldn't start.

Stop right here. If you are not able to install the last native macOS for your device, without OCLP, just normally, natively on your machine, then you probably have a hardware or firmware problem. Did you previously have high sierra on this machine before? What was the last native, normal, not using OCLP, macOS that you had on this machine?

reset the smc and the nvram and first try to go back to the last native macOS that you had on this machine. That’s your start line. If you can’t do that, I would suspect hardware or firmware problem.

 

[Project Alice]

I too am having problems with 12.3 install (using 0.43 patcher on cMP 3,1 listed below). I have built the USB installer twice from different sources and it can boot the Mac to start the install which apparently completes OK. (The SSD shows as bootable in Startup Disk and DU First Aid shows all OK.) But when I try to boot (with the USB plugged in) I get the flashing folder icon with question mark. Very weird. I think I'll roll back to the last known good version that booted without problems (12.2.1).

I just made a new 12.3 installer; booting from it hangs in the same place as the internal drive did. Mine is a Mac Pro 5,1.

 

[alamboglia]

Stop right here. If you are not able to install the last native macOS for your device, without OCLP, just normally, natively on your machine, then you probably have a hardware or firmware problem. Did you previously have high sierra on this machine before? What was the last native, normal, not using OCLP, macOS that you had on this machine?

reset the smc and the nvram and first try to go back to the last native macOS that you had on this machine. That’s your start line. If you can’t do that, I would suspect hardware or firmware problem.

Hi first of all thanks for the insight. The last known was High Sierra natively. When I got the computer I installed Monterey with OCLP with the old 6970m non metal gpu. It worked beautifuly with the OCLP acceleration patches. But certain software would not show when using them ( I am a music producer and use serveral Logic PRo x plugins that wouldnt show because they needed a metal gpu to show) so I decided to replace with the metal k1100m gpu. I replaced it, then flashed it with the working bios. Reinstalled the Monterey with OCLP then after doing the post install patches everything froze and thats where the problems started.

Already reset the smc and nvram and tried to go to the native high sierra and big sur and catalina to see if something different would happen and nothing. All of them froze and never booted the installers. The only one that works is Monterey but again when I do the post install patches to get the acceleration and wifi and audio working, it freezes and thats where I'm at right now.

Any advice on how to fix the firmware or should I just go back to the previous gpu and start from there?

 

[foxfoobar]

Already reset the smc and nvram and tried to go to the native high sierra and big sur and catalina to see if something different would happen and nothing. All of them froze and never booted the installers. The only one that works is Monterey...

I would unplug the SSDs and try to boot the HighSierra installer (just to see if it boots properly). If still freezing then swap back your old graphics card and try again.

 

[alamboglia]

I would unplug the SSDs and try to boot the HighSierra installer (just to see if it boots properly). If still freezing then swap back your old graphics card and try again

Yeah already did that and the same thing happened so Ill swap my old gpu back and try

 

[thegdn]

much thanks much machine love.
only a few issues but not a pain.

 

[houser]

I have a recurring SSD issue with my MBP 10,1 that I wonder if someone can comment on.
It was running fine with 12.2.1 and I felt lucky so went ahead and updated to OCLP 0.4.3 and then via Software update to the 12.3 Monterey update.
After initiating the update, I got stuck at first reboot with the dreaded "could not verify disk" and corruption in the APFS Container on the SSD that can not be repaired via Disk Utility.
This is a known issue and I have tried these strategies to repair via terminal. All individual partitions check out fine.
This has happened quite a few times before, and I suspect an issue with my SSD but hope it is not, as the MBP runs
flawlessly between installs, and only appears to break like this at updates but I guess it could be an emerging issue that only manifests itself when updating.

Well, if anyone has experience with getting around this without having to wipe and reinstall I would certainly appreciate it. It is a Bootcamp dual boot with a dedicated EFI for OCLP, as per OCLP standard docs. Many thanks for any hints.

Answering my own question, as I spent some time researching this once and for all.

TLDR:
Apple probably broke support between Big Sur and Monterey for some no-brand SSD:s with some firmware.

Longer version:
I am not going to quote specific sources as that might cloud things and it is relatively early days and Monterey only, apart from this from the Apple forums that points to the same issue and has pointers.
But this is empirically 100% compatible with my experiences, so I wanted to write this here as a hint to those with cheap large SSD:s that think this is an OCLP issue when going to Monterey.
As going to Monterey was not possible before using OCSL, this has confused at least me.
A good old causality and correlation mistake..

The SSD I have in my MBP 10,1 is exactly that. A cheap 1tb SSD that worked perfectly on Big Sur and still works perfectly with Win10 on Bootcamp.
I may try and buy an OWC aura or something similar to see if that stays stable. Or go back to Big Sur.
Maybe a slim, 1% chance that I can update the firmware of the SSD under Win.
As I have seen and suspected, the issue appears to be cumulative and seems more likely the larger the SSD.

A few warnings:
Trying to run the Disk Utility under Monterey can actually _damage_ the APFS container on SSD:s with older firmware, rather than fixing it. I am pretty sure I have seen this multiple times.
The corruption also transfers to the Time Machine spare.bundles which is obviously a _very_ bad thing...
The more general known fact that the Disk utility on Monterey can not repair APFS Container disks as of yet,
is also related to this issue in an obvious way, but is not the same.

I would suspect that this may become part of common knowledge for people doing legacy Macs and OCLP with
upgraded SSD:s, but may not ever be tested 100%, as it is a tad esoteric and does not effect that many users. FWIW.

 

[hvds]

The SSD I have in my MBP 10,1 is exactly that. A cheap 1tb SSD that worked perfectly on Big Sur and still works perfectly with Win10 on Bootcamp.
I may try and buy an OWC aura or something similar to see if that stays stable. Or go back to Big Sur.
Maybe a slim, 1% chance that I can update the firmware of the SSD under Win.

Which brand+model of SSD is it that you observe the problems since Monterey?
Sorry if you‘ve said that earlier and I missed it.

 

[houser]

Which brand+model of SSD is it that you observe the problems since Monterey?
Sorry if you‘ve said that earlier and I missed it.

It's from Aliexpress brand is "Ninjacase" Flawless until Monterey though...

 

[TheStork]

Which brand+model of SSD is it that you observe the problems since Monterey?
Sorry if you‘ve said that earlier and I missed it.

See these informative threads >

https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/new-ssds-added-to-the-recommended-list-of-the-buyers-guide.316946

General NVMe Drive Problems (Fatal)

There's discussion in Monterey threads about slow boot times with Samsung. Dortania (vit9696) has narrowed this down to problems in Trim support versus Apple's NVMe driver. They are asking for users to help with their testing. Moreover, according to same article, Apple's NVMe driver is known...

www.tonymacx86.com

 

[Ultracyclist]

I've been searching my a$$ off to get an answer on my UNIVERSAL CONTROLE question.

I have two systems:

Mac mini 2021/6,1(unsupported) running OCLP 0.4.3 and macOS 12.3 UC is working flawlessly with my iPad Air 2020
&
MacBook Pro 2015/11.4 (supported) running OCLP 0.4.3 and macOS 12.3 UC is NOT working with my iPad Air 2020

I can see the feature in the settings and have selected it just like on my mini, but whatever I try UC is not working on my MacBook.
Logging out and in of iCloud did nothing, turning off firewall, turning off and on the UC feature and the devices, nothing sees to get it to work.

Edit: All I get with my MacBook is the sidecar feature.

If anyone can point me into the right direction, that would be amazing!

I've found the solution in spoofing the modelnumber to 14,1 at moderate level.
TB2 and HDMI are working fine.

 

[Danwilderspin]

Hi All,

Had issues from the beginning my 2015 MacBook refused to update to 12.1 it would clam to instal root, progress bar progressed for about one minute then it would reboot into 12. Then 12.2 came out and oclp 4.1, I installed only 4.1 and it worked as expected perfect ota update.

I've now updated to oclp 4.3 and we are back in the same place downloads starts installing and boots back to 12.2 any ideas?

 

[Ausdauersportler]

Hi All,

Had issues from the beginning my 2015 MacBook refused to update to 12.1 it would clam to instal root, progress bar progressed for about one minute then it would reboot into 12. Then 12.2 came out and oclp 4.1, I installed only 4.1 and it worked as expected perfect ota update.

I've now updated to oclp 4.3 and we are back in the same place downloads starts installing and boots back to 12.2 any ideas?

Pull a full InstallAssistant.pkg, create an USB installer and use it.

 

[TimothyR734]

Just a fair warning to those who are fairly new to the forum and have mac's without a metal capable gpu I am suspecting that 12.4 beta 1 should drop! I have pretty much around since mac OS High Sierra to know that the xx-.4 beta's have been nightmares to install so please let the developers and those with knowledge test the beta and et us know if further patches are needed so those involved with the OCLP can work on it!

 

[macpro_mid2014]

Hi All,

Had issues from the beginning my 2015 MacBook refused to update to 12.1 it would clam to instal root, progress bar progressed for about one minute then it would reboot into 12. Then 12.2 came out and oclp 4.1, I installed only 4.1 and it worked as expected perfect ota update.

I've now updated to oclp 4.3 and we are back in the same place downloads starts installing and boots back to 12.2 any ideas?

I had similar issues while beta testing 12.0 on an external SSD.

Right after the first boot, ensure you press the Option key and select the newly created boot disk from the booting options menu. I've found out that the installer selected the main SSD instead of the newly created boot disk, booting back to the older version.

 

[Tockman]

Just a fair warning to those who are fairly new to the forum and have mac's without a metal capable gpu I am suspecting that 12.4 beta 1 should drop! I have pretty much around since mac OS High Sierra to know that the xx-.4 beta's have been nightmares to install so please let the developers and those with knowledge test the beta and et us know if further patches are needed so those involved with the OCLP can work on it!

Did they release it yet?

 

[rehkram]

I had similar issues while beta testing 12.0 on an external SSD.

Right after the first boot, ensure you press the Option key and select the newly created boot disk from the booting options menu. I've found out that the installer selected the main SSD instead of the newly created boot disk, booting back to the older version.

That sounds right to me, thank you very much. That issue has caused me a lot of frustration and lost time in the past.

 

[timmymaxi]

Hi there,

sorry if this question has already been answered elsewhere.

I have a 2012 MacMini with two displays attached (HDMI and Displayport). Until 12.2.1 everything worked fine. Unfortunately, I updated to 12:3 today and nothing is fine anymore. The Mac only recognizes the Displayport Monitor but thinks it is a 31.5 inch display (it is a 24 inch) and only offers one resolution. It seems like some unspecific, general driver is at work here. The HDMI port seems to be dead somehow. I could not get the other monitor (both Dell, this one a 27 inch) to even light up. On the monitor that works, everything is laggy - seems like no graphics acceleration etc. is at work anymore.

Any ideas what do to? Can I download the "old" version of Monterey somewhere so that I can just do a re-install?

Thanks

 

[TimothyR734]

Did they release it yet?

No but it could drop today!